University, friends and heartbreak
by DutchIcePrincess
Summary: Gabriella is starting university and making a new start with her life. She wants to be finally happy and have friends. But things never go the way they are planned. She'll find love, heartbreak, and new friends. How is she going to survive all this? TxG
1. Prologue

**I've started writing a new story, University, friends and heartbreak. Gabriella is starting university and making a new start with her life. She wants to be finally happy and have friends. But things never go as smoothly as one wishes. How will she cope with trying to start a new life?**

**It starts of with this prologue/introduction to Gabriella's life at the beginning of the story. It's sort of a diary entry and therefore written from Gabriella's point of view. The rest of the story, however, will be in the third person pov.**

**I hope you all enjoy this story. Please let me know what you think.**

_You know that feeling, when you feel as if nothing can go wrong? Well I don't. In my life there's always something that's not going the way I want it to go. Everything I planned always turns out differently. I always seem to have some sort of problem. And I really have no one to talk to about this. Me and my parents? Well, I don't know my father. Me and my mother? We fight. Me and my brother? We fight. Me and my friends? Well, to be honest, I don't have any real friends. I have been moving from one place to another my whole life. In the eighteen years that I've lived, I've moved to 11 different places. I just had no time to make friends. Besides, I don't want to make friends. I'll just have to move again, leaving everyone that I started to care for. I'm not going to put myself through something like that over and over again. There's only one thing in life that I enjoy doing. Reading. You see, books don't judge me. With everything else I do, there is always someone there telling me how I should or should not do it, what I am doing wrong, that I'm not allowed to do something or anything else that comes to their mind. So reading it is. I like just to follow the lives of the characters in books. They are the only 'people' in my life that don't judge me and don't tell me what to do. Now, I know that sounds a bit pathetic, but it's true. That's my life, moving around and reading books. _

_Right now I'm in San Francisco. I moved here because this is where I'll be going to university. I'll be living in this city for the next few years, no moving around anymore. So, in theory I could start making friends here and build up my life in this city. However, I don't know how. In high school I just stayed to myself. No friends. No contacts with other people. Just me in my own little world, trying to stay away from the people around me. Trying to avoid heartbreak.. So what I'm going to do is just concentrate on studying. That's the only thing I've always been good at. When all of my classmates were in the cafeteria eating their lunch, I was sitting all alone in the library studying. I could have done anything. Study medicine, mathematics, physics, whatever I wanted to. I got straight A's in all my classes. I decided to go for history. I want to be a history teacher someday. Or maybe I want to be a writer. I haven't really decided yet._

_Today is my first day at the university. And I'm so scared. I'm scared of meeting all these new people. It's not as if they would be interested in me anyways, but still… I have to be in the same classes as them every day for the next few years. Sit next to them, in the same room, listening to the same teacher. I just wish I knew how to make friends. At times like these I hate my mother for making us move around so much. I know it's not really her fault, it's the company she works for that's making us move so much. I asked her multiple times to just switch jobs, so that we could stay somewhere. She says she cannot do that because we need the money. I tend to disagree with her on that, she could make money in some other job. She's a smart woman, finished university, worked at some impressive companies, she's really successful. I believe she could easily find another job that pays just as much, maybe even more. It would have spared me a lot of pain and difficulties. Anyways, it's not important anymore. I now moved to San Francisco and I started living in a dorm room. I won't have to move around because of her job anymore. It's time to start university._

_- Gabriella_

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_**So what did you think? I really hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review to tell me what you thought.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Okay, here is the first real chapter. I hope you will all enjoy it!**

**Chapter 1**

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Gabriella was starting to get more and more nervous with every step she took. She just walked out of her dorm room into the crowded hallway, feeling slightly intimidated by all the people around her. There were so many different people passing by her. She saw the typical groups that had been in every high school she had been to in her life. The jocks, the sluttish girls that followed the jocks everywhere they went, skaters, geeks, and the people that were not in any group but were always alone. She counted herself in that last category. It had always been like that, no matter where she went. Gabriella was alone. On the outside.

The first class she had was ancient history. A time she had always loved. The Greeks, the Romans and the Persians had always seemed so much more interesting to her than other nations that followed in later times. When she walked into the room where the class would take place, she saw that most of the seats were already taken. So she slipped into one of the seats in the back, next to a boy with a lot of curly hair who was talking to blond girl dressed in pink. She looked at him shortly, before turning her eyes to the front where someone was trying to get everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone, silence please. Welcome all to the University of San Francisco. Most of you have been to the introduction camp before classes started and have gotten to know the University." That's something Gabriella did not do, a camp as an introduction was not something she wanted to attend. She did not really know how to get to know people on camps like that and rather kept to herself. "Now it's time to actually learn something. This period we're going to be working on ancient history, starting with Mesopotamia…"

The boy next to her started talking. "You know, it would be nice to introduce yourself when you sit down next to someone you don't know."

Blood immediately made it's way to Gabriella's cheeks and she started stuttering "Uh, I'm, uh… sorry. It's just… you were so busy talking, and uh, well…" She was feeling more and more embarrassed with every word that came out of her mouth.

The boy started laughing, his hair bouncing while he did so. "No need to be so afraid of me. I'm Chad. So what's your name?"

Why was this boy actually talking to her? It's not as if she was interesting in any way. She was just a shy girl, a geek that had no friends at all. When she came here, she didn't think anyone would be interested in talking to her. She didn't socialize with other people, she never had. And yet, here was this boy, that she didn't even know, talking to her. She looked at him, shocked, and realized he was still waiting for an answer. "Gabriella".

"It's nice to meet you Gabriella. I'm guessing you don't know anyone here yet? Since I didn't see you at the introduction camp." Gabriella just nodded "All right, just stay with us today then? If you like? Me and my friend Sharpay" he pointed to the girl next to him "would love to show you around a little bit."

Gabriella looked over to the girl he had just called Sharpay. She looked, well very pink and sparkly. She actually found it a little weird, how much glitters and pink could you put on one person? But she did look nice, smiling at Gabriella before she extended her hand. "Hi nice to meet you."

Gabriella shook her hand. "Nice to meet you too." She thought, it's now or never. Her only chance to make friends. And since she was not going to leave San Francisco anytime soon, she might as well try to make friends. Try to make a fresh start in this new city. "I would love to stay with you today. I haven't seen much of the university yet, so if you could show me around that could be great". Gabriella's heart was racing, but she did it. She took the first step to making friends.

Gabriella looked back to the teacher standing in front of the room, and tried to concentrate on what she was saying. It was very hard for her though, nerves were racing through her system. How would today turn out for her? Would she actually end up with some friends, or would they run away once they got to know her a little bit better? She kept glancing over at the pair. They didn't look like they were a couple, but they were definitely close, like they had known each other for a long time. Was she going to fit in with people that already knew each other so well?

When class was over, the three of them walked to the cafeteria to get some lunch. She learned that the two were indeed friends, and had known each other since kindergarten. Explaining why the two looked so close. They told her that they'd always been part of this group of friends, but that everyone split up and went to different universities. They ended up at the same university because they wanted to study the same subject, and thought it would be nice to do this together. Another friend of them was also studying in San Francisco and they were going to meet up with him later that day.

"So would you like to come this afternoon?" Chad asked Gabriella as they were eating their lunch in the cafeteria. "We're just going to watch some movie and have pizza together. Should be fun"

Gabriella smiled at the boy "Sound nice, but I can't really. I have some more unpacking to do and I still have to place all my stuff in my dorm room. Maybe some other time." Besides, meeting and talking to two people in one day was quiet something for Gabriella. She felt that it was more than enough. She would probably meet their friend some other day, but right now she really didn't feel like meeting someone else.

When at the end of the day Gabriella walked back to her dorm room she had so much to think about. Things seemed to change so rapidly. She had started university today, she moved into the dorm room a few days ago, she was not living with her mother anymore and had to take car of herself now, she had actually made some friends, sort of, and she was trying to process all of it. These were all new things to her, things she had never experienced before. Her life seemed so different than it had been a few weeks before.

Once she was in her room she started unpacking all the boxes that were still there, untouched. She had so much stuff with her that she did not know where she was going to put everything.

While unpacking her stuff Gabriella came across a box that she had not opened in a very long time. She remembered packing it in one of the cardboard boxes to move it to her dorm room. However, she did not want to look at it then. She knew exactly what was in the box. She had looked at the pictures inside it multiple times when she was a little girl. Her mother had once given it to her, explaining that the pictures inside it were very important and that she should make sure to never loose the box and always keep it safe. Gabriella took the lid of, and looked at the picture on top. It was one of her mother, still very young, with a darker man with an afro. They both looked so happy and in love. Her mother had told her that this man was her father. Though she never explained why he left, why he was not there. All she had of him was his picture. Some people may say that a picture says more than a thousand words. However, in this case a picture was not enough to tell the story.

Of course, Gabriella had tried to talk to her mother about it. She never gave an answer; saying that this was all that she could give her at the moment. At that moment, her eyes were filled with pain and Gabriella decided not to ask her about it anymore. However, now that she was looking at the picture she could not help but wanting to know what this man was like. What was his life like? Did he have any other children? How did he feel about her and her mother? Did he even know about her? If yes, why didn't he stay, why did he leave her and her mother alone? Tears started to make their way out of her eyes onto her cheeks.

Gabriella was startled by the noise of a door slamming shut and someone walking in the living room. She quickly dried her eyes, trying not to think about the picture anymore, and walked out of her room into the small living room. Standing there was an Afro-American girl that was probably her new roommate.

"Hi I'm Taylor."

"Hi Taylor, nice to meet you." Gabriella smiled at the girl "You must be my new roommate."

"Yeah I am. I just arrived here. Which room is mine?" Gabriella pointed to one of the two rooms and Taylor started carrying her belongings to the room.

"Here, let me help you with that" Taylor looked grateful at her "It's a lot of stuff you have to move, even if it's just a small dorm room."

"Yeah, I didn't think I even had so many things" Both girls laughed at this. "Have you finished unpacking yet?"

"No I was actually working on that before you came in. It's just, I don't know where to leave everything. It's such a small room and there are so many things I wanted to take with me. Besides, I'm getting kind of bored with unpacking." Gabriella laughed, but on the inside she was not feeling too happy. Talking about the unpacking she needed to do made her think of the picture she had been looking at just before Taylor came in.

"So how about we do the unpacking some other time," Taylor said "we could just order a pizza and get to know each other a little better? I mean, we have to live with each other, so it would be nice to get to know you."

Gabriella actually had a lot of fun. For the second time that day she met someone who was actually talking to her and trying to be her friend. And she was actually happy about it. It was a feeling she was not used to, but it started to feel better and better every minute. Gabriella looked at Taylor, and knew that she could possibly become a good friend. She learned that Taylor was, just like her, a straight-A student in high school and that she came here to study Chemistry. Like Gabriella she had been one of the geeks in school, though she did have friends, which Gabriella didn't. Taylor told her that she had come here, to be far away from home and be able to make a new start with her life, get to know new people and to be whoever she wanted to be. Gabriella liked that idea. Her and Taylor would both be making a new start in San Francisco. They promised each other that life here would be better, more fun and that they would not judge each other. It was going to be the start of something new.

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**So what did you think? I'd love to know whether you liked it, or whether you didn't. Please let me know what you think was good or what you think should be done different in the next chapters. It will only make the story better!**

**SO REVIEW! **

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Here's another short chapter. When you finished reading please read the AN at the end of the chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 2

After pizza with Taylor, Gabriella was feeling better than she had in years. She had made three new friends that day, more friends than she could recall ever having. And though it felt weird, it was a good kind of weird. The next morning she met up with Chad and Sharpay before their class started. And though class itself was uneventful, it was fun sharing it with other people instead of just sitting alone at the back of the room. Chad was really funny and could do very stupid things at times, while Sharpay was always well composed and really nice to Gabriella.

After class they decided to go explore the city and it's main sites, as neither of them had really had the time to do so before. It was a nice and warm day, even though the San Francisco air was usually pretty cool. They walked over the Golden Gate Bride, looking over the water to where Alcatraz lay. Chad was bouncing all over the place, while Sharpay and Gabriella followed him, trailing a few steps behind.

"So, Gabriella, do you have a boyfriend" Sharpay asked her with glints in her eyes.

"Oh no, really, so far I've just been focusing on schoolwork." Gabriella looked down at her feet, feeling a bit shy "Me and my mother used to move around a lot, I never had any time to get to know anyone well enough to trust him with my heart." Sharpay sensed that that was not all there was to it, but she didn't say anything about it, respecting Gabriella's privacy. "How about you?"

"Yeah I do actually, but he's studying in Albuquerque. That's where we used to live and where we went to high school, me and Chad, and my boyfriend Zeke and some other friends of us." Sharpay looked sad talking about this.

"You miss him?" Gabriella saw a tear rolling down her face.

"Yeah, it's weird I've only been away for a week and yet it feels like it's been so much longer than that." Gabriella looked apologetically at the girl "I don't even know why I'm telling you all this, bothering you with my problems, when we've only known each other since yesterday."

"It's alright. I can understand that it's not something you talk about with Chad, he is a guy after all." Both girls laughed at this. "And well, as we all know guys are not too good with dealing with feelings."

After they had been to the Golden Gate Bridge they decided to sit down somewhere and get something to drink. Sharpay was wearing high heels and could not walk long distances, so they decided to see the rest of the sights some other time. After all, they had a couple more years coming in which they could explore the city.

"So, Gabriella," Chad started "Do you play any sports?"

Sharpay groaned at this. Why she did that? Gabriella did not know, but she would find out.

"No, sports aren't really my thing. I don't like getting all sweaty and tired" Gabriella giggled.

"What?!" Chad looked genuinely shocked "Are you kidding me? Nothings better than to get all tired and sweaty from a good game of sports. It feels like you've actually accomplished something. Playing in a team, feeling the ball in your hands, shooting the ball." Chad was getting all riled up and kept rambling on about how much fun it was to play sports and how there was nothing else on earth that felt better than doing that. His hair was bouncing with excitement. "Did I mention I play basketball?" Both girls laughed at this. "I'll teach you sometimes."

"No really, that's not necessary. I'm no good with sports at all, especially if it involves balls. I'd just hurt everyone around me." Gabriella's cheeks flushed. It was true, she was a disaster when it came to sports, especially ball games. She was known for hitting other people in the head with the ball.

"Come on you can't be that bad" Chad laughed "Anyways, you're not getting out of it. I will be teaching you basketball very soon." Now he turned to Sharpay "And you will be joining us"

All the color drained from Sharpay's face. "Come on Chad, you can not do that. You know what last time was like" Her face was looking as if she had just seen a ghost "I smashed a window and hit Zeke in the head so hard that he passed out and was dizzy for hours after that. You can't possibly want me to repeat that scene, do you?"

Chad just shrugged "As long as it's not me who's going to get hit, I'm fine with it."

Both girls sighed, looking defeated. Until Sharpay came up with a plan. Her eyes were sparkling and her face turned into a grin. "You know, there is one way you can get me to play basketball with you." She chuckled "We take you shopping first. If you can last a day of shopping without complaining about it and without running away, I'll go play basketball with you."

This time it was Chad's turn to look horrified. "Shopping? … With you? …" He took a few deep breaths. "You know that is not fair Sharpay. Shopping with you is much worse than you playing basketball with me. I'm not gay you know. I don't like running from one shop to another to try on dresses and shoes and everything."

"Well, I guess that you're going to have to play basketball on your own then." Sharpay smirked "Have fun shooting hoops, afro-man".

Gabriella just laughed at the exchange between her two new friends. Surely shopping could not be that bad. It was better than breaking windows and hitting other people in the head. Of that she was sure.

During the next few weeks Gabriella got to know the other two a lot better. She started to love both for their easygoing and fun natures. She loved the bickering that was sometimes going on between the two friends, but also saw how much their friendship meant to them and how much they cared about each other. Sharpay had told her that she thought of Chad as a big brother. He was always there for her whether she needed a friend, a shoulder to cry on, protection or anything else, she could always turn to Chad. And in the few weeks that Gabriella had known them, Chad had started to play that same role in Gabriella's life. She started to trust them with more and more secrets of her past. She told them about the moving, about the difficulties she had with friendships and pretty much everything else that came to mind.

At the same time she had been developing a close friendship with her roommate Taylor. She was a fun girl, but also had a more serious side to her. With Taylor Gabriella could talk about so many things, personal things as well as politics and homework. She could not have had a better room mate. They were alike in so many ways, and yet so different.

Gabriella had felt so good in these weeks, finally she felt like she belonged somewhere. She had made friends and she really enjoyed her classes as well. Life had finally started to look a little brighter for her. And then she realized something. For the first time in years she was actually feeling happy. Gabriella softly smiled to herself, deciding to enjoy this happiness to the fullest for as long as it would last.

She decided to call her mom, see if she could maybe add something to that happiness by finding out something about her father. She picked up her phone and dialed her moms' number. "Hello, this is Anna Montez"

Gabriella smiled at hearing her mother's voice, it had been quiet some time since they had talked. "Hi mom, it's me"

"Gabriella, dear, how are you? Is everything all right? I missed you! Why didn't you call me earlier? How's everything going? I hope you still enjoy your classes and living on your own!" Her mother didn't even stop to take a breath as she just kept on asking questions.

"Relax mama, I'm fine. Everything's going great, I liked my classes so far, and the people in it and my roommate are great." Gabriella took a deep breath. It was now or never, she had to ask her mother. "But I did actually call to ask you something. Uh… well, you see…"

"Gabriella, is everything okay? What do you want honey?" She could hear the worry in her mothers' voice, even though she tried to hide it.

Gabriella took one more deep breath before she started talking again "Well, you see, I was going through my stuff when unpacking it. And then I opened the box with the pictures in it and I looked at the picture from you and dad, and well, I just wanted to see if you know anything else about him. I'd love to meet him someday." She could imagine what her mother would look like right now, she probably did not expect this question to come up. "Really mom, I feel like it's so weird that I just don't know anything about my father at all. No name, not where he lives, I don't know why he's not here and I just want some answers."

Gabriella heard her mother sigh on the other side "Gabi, I don't know it's just so hard. I'm definitely not doing this over the phone. Maybe…" her voice was shaking, making it difficult for her to talk "Maybe we could talk about it when you come home. You can come home next weekend; I'll talk to you about it. I promise."

Gabriella did not know how to react to this. On the one hand she was happy she was finally going to get some answers, on the other hand she could hear from her mothers voice that this was difficult for her. "That's all right mama, it can wait till then. I know this is kind of unexpected for you…"

"Okay Gabi, I'm going now. Let me know what time you'll be home this weekend, okay?"

"Yeah. Bye, love you mom." Then she hung up the phone and started to think about this conversation. It was so unreal, after all these years she would finally get some answers to the questions that she had concerning her father. Maybe she could try to track him down or something, see if he cared that he even had a daughter. Or maybe he didn't. Anyways, she could think about that later. It all of course depended on the reason why he was not here.

Gabriella decided to take a shower and go to bed afterwards. After all, this was very tiring and staying up and thinking about it wasn't going to give her any answers anyways. Those would have to wait for the weekend.

The next day in class Gabriella was finding it difficult to concentrate on what the teacher was telling them. Something about the way Roman politics word, the senate and some _comitia_, but that's all she heard. Her mind was occupied with so many other things. What would this weekend be like? She had decided to go home Saturday, so she would probably be there around 3 o'clock. Would her mother immediately tell her everything that was going on, or would she maybe wait until Sunday? She really hoped she did not have to wait so long.

"Gabi"

"Gabi, are you there?"

"Gabriella?"

"GABRIELLA MONTEZ, LISTEN TO ME" This caught Gabriella's attention. She looked up to see Sharpay standing next to her. She had her hands in her sides, and she did not look pleased. "What's up with you?"

"Sorry, just spaced out for a moment I guess." Gabriella looked down, not wanting to be confronted with Sharpay. She liked her as a friend, but she was kind of scary when she was mad.

"Yeah I noticed that. You haven't been paying attention at all during the last hour and a half. Where were you? You didn't even notice that class is over."

Blood rushed to Gabriella's cheeks "I know, I'm sorry. It's just, I had a lot to think about. I'll explain later"

Gabriella let out a huge sigh. Not thinking about it was easier said than done.

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**If i get no reviews this time i'll stop writing this story and this will be the last chapter i'll upload. I don't want to write a story that nobody's going to read. I had hoped that this would become a good story, but obviously the ones that read it so far don't think it is a good story at all. **

**So let me know, should i continue or not?**


	4. I'm back!

Hello my dear readers,

I am back! I know I've been gone from FF for a long time. I've been reading stories, but haven't written anything myself. However, I started writing again. I have a new oneshot (a songfic) and I am working on a new story, which I hope to publish soon. Furthermore, I am trying to think of ideas to finish my story _University, friends and heartbreak_.

I hope you all forgive me for being absent for such a long time and I would love for you to read my new oneshot. It's, of course, a Troyella!

Much love,

DutchIcePrincess


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